(Mainly derived from Fortmann and Roe, 1981)
| Name | Description |
| River; stream; canal | A seasonal or perennial flow of; water along a defined water course. A linear rather than a 'point' source of water. There is no definite distinction between 'rivers' and 'streams', but in general rivers are larger than streams; both flow in natural water courses. The water courses of canals are constructed by human agency |
| Lake | A large, permanent, standing body of water (with or without an outlet) which does not dry up except in abnormally dry sequences of years. |
| Pan
|
A low spot or depression in which water collects seasonally but does not normally last a complete year before drying up. |
| Comment | |
| The words 'ponds' or 'pools' may be used either for small lakes (permanent standing water) or for pans (impermanent standing water). | |
| Springs
|
A spontaneous flow of water out of the ground. The volume typically varies with the season, and it may dry up at some times of the year. |
| Comment | |
| Usually livestock can obtain direct access to drink at rivers, lakes and pans and no further methods of extraction are required to distribute water to them. At springs and canals direct access is sometimes possible but troughs and lifting devices may be necessary in order to pre vent damage to the water source by livestock | |
| Dam | In a dam the dam wall holds back the water, and more than half of the water, at full storage, lies above the ground level that existed before the dam was built. |
| Hafir dam | In a hafir dam the dam wall holds back the water but less than half of the water at full storage lies above the ground level that existed before the hafir dam was built. |
| Hafir
|
In a hafir the wall (if any) is just a convenient place to put the soil taken out of the hole. It does not hold back standing water. All of the water, at full storage, lies be low ground level in a hole or pit. |
| Comment | |
| The words 'stockpond' or 'tank' can be used for dams, hafirs and hafir dams. Livestock may have direct access to all of these but are liable to damage the facilities if they do so. The word 'cistern' is often used for hafirs or hafir dams which have rock, masonry or cement linings | |
| Borehole | A machine-drilled hole of less than 300 mm diameter, often lined with casing pipe |
| Open well | A shaft deeper than it is wide, usually dug by hand. It may be lined in whole or in part with timber, masonry or concrete to prevent cave in. Open wells may achieve a depth of 100 m or more. |
| Sandy river | A shallow well penetrating to well groundwater in sandy rivers. Sandy river wells are often unlined and usually have to be reconstructed after every rainy season |
| Seep well
|
A pit, often wider than it is deep, or pit usually unlined and tapping groundwater which lies above an impervious layer. It may also collect surface run-off |
| Comment | |
| The word 'waterhole' is also used to refer to both sandy river wells and seep wells/pits. The expression 'shallow well' is sometimes used of open wells, even when they are quite deep, in order to distinguish them from boreholes |
